Canadian Music Publisher ole Rebrands as Anthem Entertainment

ole, the Canadian music publishing company, is being rebranded as Anthem Entertainment.

Founded in 2004, ole has grown into one of the largest independent music publishers through a diversified portfolio that includes, hip-hop, rock and country as well as a significant presence in film, TV and production music. About six months ago, former founder and CEO Robert Ott left the company and was replaced by longtime music industry executive Helen Murphy.

In choosing a new name, Murphy went with an acquired brand Anthem that it purchased in 2015, the record label that included Rush on its roster. 

"As the company turns 15 this year, it is important to celebrate its success in building a successful global content creation and entertainment services platform from scratch," Murphy said in a statement. "It is also important to stop and reassess our mission and our values. Looking forward, it is equally important for us to revisit our name. I want the name of our company to more easily identify who we are and what we do. We have grown from a small music publishing company to a large independent producer of content and entertainment services platform. We have created deep roots in music, film, and television."

As part of the rebrand, Anthem has released a new company logo and new company website at AnthemEntertainment.com. With a staff of about 200, Anthem has offices in Toronto, Nashville, New York, Los Angeles and London. Overall, Anthem has a catalog with about 55,000 songs by more than 400 songwriters, as well as 60,000 hours of film, television music and production music libraries. It also has a record label, and its Compact Media division administers  audio-visual secondary rights, i.e. neighboring rights for music used in films, commercials and television.

While it is using Anthem Entertainment as its overall corporate brand, some of its operations, like Jingle Punks, Cavendish Music, 5 Alarm Music and Compact Media, will retain the brands that they have established in their respective sectors.

"I see a lot of opportunity for organic growth and will be on the lookout for strategic acquisitions," Murphy says. "Its about doing the right deals instead of chasing expensive deals that don’t make sense."